Research

The objective of my research
is to understand how cell proliferation is controlled during development,
and how genetic mutations lead to growth abnormalities and cancer. The
model system used in this work is the fruit fly Drosophila, which
offers outstanding advantages for experimental developmental biology as
well as the essential tools for a systematic molecular genetic analysis
of these problems. We are investigating the functions of gene products required
to promote cell proliferation in the imaginal discs during larval growth, as
well as the gene products required for shutting down cell proliferation at the
end of the growth period.